MEDICAL ORIENTATION FOR DRIVER LICENSE EXAMINERS

The degree to which medical conditions contribute to crash causation has long been argued, and no effort is made here to solve that argument. However, in an effort to upgrade the screening of driver license applicants for the possible presence of those conditions, the American Medial Association and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators early this year started a medical orientation program for lay driver examiners. The program consists of a two-and-one-half hour videotape of lectures by five medical specialists, a slide presentation on driver limitations, and a self-testing review manual for each examiner. The program stresses the fact that examiners are not being trained as diagnosticians, but only to recognize some signs indicating the possible presence of conditions that could present a hazard to driving.